Warlock Apprentice

Two hours ago.

 While using the same relaxed manner, Spivet mentioned Flora’s request.

 “It’s simple. Flora found herself a student some time ago, right? That halfbreed? Flora has never allowed him to enter Rockwell Venue. Now that she has a ‘proper’ student, which is me, that halfbreed is getting a little worked up. Since he’s a level-2 apprentice now, Flora decided to give him a one-use bloodline and make him into a puppet, and you should be the one to do the final touches.”

 “Balba didn’t stay put when he saw you becoming Miss Flora’s student? What did he do?” asked Angor.

 “Balba? That halfbreed is called Balba?”

 “Answer me first.”

 “Well, what else can he do? He slipped into Rockwell Venue and wouldn’t go away. He tried to annoy Flora into teaching him. B*stard doesn’t know who he is. He deserves to die.” Spivet yawned as he lost interest. “Like I said, a simple matter. Just do it when you have the time to spare. Flora said she’ll pay you a hundred crystals for it. I can tell you it’s the average price for making a puppet. She isn’t tricking you or something. Now I need to sleep…”

 “I don’t know… I want to visit Balba, but what should I tell him? He’s from another world, and it can’t be helped…”

 “He is from another world, so he might be a spy, and letting him live will bring trouble to the wizarding world?” Iron Granny commented.

 Angor shook his head. “I don’t believe so. But this is like the basic rule in this world, and I can’t go against it.”

 Iron Granny smiled. “There are enemies from thousands of different planes drooling over our wizardry knowledge. We absolutely should be on our guard. However, this excessive means of security that has killed many innocent ones just to find a potential threat is something we copied from the Supreme Cult. And the Supreme Cult… is not always right. Of course, I’m not saying the cult is wrong. People just have different views about this.

 “As I heard, there are many ‘spies’ sent by other planes who meant to steal our knowledge. There is even a scandal saying that the official authorities within the Song of the Deep are actually otherworldly invaders.

 “With enough time, spies will easily get their hands on what they want. However, the great fame and might of wizards usually relied on truth-finder wizards to propagate. Do you think spies can copy the arts wielded by truth-finders?” Iron Granny smiled at Angor as she said, “You just saw Greya creating a new spell the other day. She was creating her own path of wizardry, which cannot be imitated. Besides, if someone from a foreign plane discovers the path of truth, then they will no longer worry about the boundary between worlds. Things said, no one has ever heard about otherworldly beings becoming truth-finders yet.”

 Iron Granny didn’t mention that the demons from the Abyss Plane were about to invade the southern wizarding region soon. To them, the secrets of wizardry were not secrets at all—these demons were more powerful than most wizards right at the beginning.

 Iron Granny looked at Angor in the eyes. “You’re worrying about Balba because you are tasked to become his enemy, or in this case, a killer. You don’t want to refuse the task and violate the rules of this world. This is where you’re wrong—you will not oppose this world by refusing. It is only the Supreme Cult who will be unhappy about this. Since most people in this world don’t like the Supreme Cult, what you’re doing is not a serious problem.

 “I believe Flora won’t mind something so unimportant. Take this Balba man away to safety if you wish to. It’s just an avatar puppet. As an alchemist, you have enough to create something of equal value and pay Flora as compensation.”

 Iron Granny picked up her teacup and started drinking again while giving Angor time to think it over.

Angor felt his mind getting clearer already. He didn’t really care about foreign spies or whatnot, but Iron Granny’s words had fully solved his burden.

 It was so right—Flora didn’t care what happened to Balba at all. She even allowed Balba to leave Brute Cavern freely. Just as Iron Granny said, in the worst case, he could “buy” Balba’s freedom by giving Flora something of value, and that was about it.

 Also, he just realized that most wizards did not care about the otherworldly invaders that much. So could he tell Sunders about Jon?

 He quickly shook his head to deny that idea.

 Jon was different. As wizards agreed, there were only humanoid races in foreign planes but not humans. Jon was a great exception as he came from another world that was full of humans. This had to remain a secret.